I think it was the old Bell Atlantic consisting of Nynex and Bell Atlantic that were sued in the late 1990s for fraudulent inventories. Other babybells were in the suit. The inventories were off by BILLIONS of dollars. The audits were to be used in regulation/deregulaton proceedings.

Long story short. The old cry baby bell management that operated under and/or were school/promoted by ex ma bell cry baby executives did anything they could to prevent a true accounting of plant & equipment. Much of this equipment was bought more or less by the public during the Ma Bell monopoly days.

Protect the status quo. What EVER it takes. The ends justify the means. They could get away with that when they were a government sponsored monopoly. Verizon is not a phone company but a corporation that must compete-oh boy.

This is why there are many complaints in those blog comments about the old days, pride, quality etc. This is not a utility or phone company anymore. It is a corporation who is still trying to use the unofficial monopoly days play book of do what ever you can get away with mentality. The only difference now is that corporate dollars yeild as much power as a state sponsored monopoly.